UNESCO HIV and Health Education Clearinghouse

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This issue brief urges educators, advocates, and policymakers to take immediate, concrete steps to provide LGBTQ-inclusive sex education for all youth, by: 1) Becoming advocates for LGBTQ-inclusive sex education, 2) Ensuring that school is a safe and accepting space for LGBTQ students, 3) Implementing LGBTQ-inclusive sex education in schools, community settings and online, 4) Talking to their own children and teens about sex and sexuality, 5) Working to remove state-level legal and policy barriers to LGBTQ-inclusive sex education in schools and require inclusive programs.

Discrimination based on sexual orientation in K–12 education is not prohibited in many school districts across the United States. Teachers who are of the sexual minority (gay, lesbian, or bisexual) must remain closeted or risk losing their jobs. A history of past court decisions and laws deeming sexual minorities to be degenerates from which children should be protected, coupled with little legal protection for sexual minorities, have pressured many educators into remaining quiet about their identity. …